Hypnosis

What is hypnosis?

Hypnosis is a process which produces relaxation for both your body and your mind.  It distracts the conscious mind, heightens suggestibility and increases awareness.  This allows access to your unconscious mind through imagination and allows positive suggestions to be made and accepted easily.

Hypnosis

What to expect

  • You WILL always be in complete control
  • You WILL be totally aware of your environment and hear what is going on
  • You WILL hear every word that is said
  • You WILL be able to ‘wake up’ any time that you choose
  • You WILL feel very ‘relaxed’
  • You WILL NOT ‘feel hypnotised’
  • I will introduce you slowly to hypnosis and do some simple ‘suggestibility tests’ to begin

What hypnosis is not!

Common myths, misconceptions and concerns about hypnosis

Hypnosis
  • Loss of control – ‘I don’t want anyone to control my mind’ – You will be in full control, fully aware of the environment and completely capable of making decisions.  Hypnosis cannot make you do anything you do not want to do or that is in conflict with your personal values or beliefs.
  • Being humiliated – (e.g. stage hypnosis) – People who are stage subjects volunteer don’t they?  They know that in doing so, the will be acting silly, clowning around and being funny don’t they? People who volunteer for stage shows do so with complete knowledge of what is to come, they are generally uninhibited, fun-loving people who realise that hypnotic shows are supposed to be entertaining.  However, if during the show they were asked to rob a bank, they would not do it.
  • Revealing secrets – the hypnotist does not hold the ‘power’ during hypnosis.  In fact the only ‘power’ lies in your mind because in hypnosis you have greater awareness than when fully awake and completely retain your power of selectivity.  Your secrets are safe!
    • “My life has been filled with terrible misfortune; most of which never happened.”
    Montaigne
  • Not waking up – hypnosis is not sleep.  Sleep and hypnosis are very different states both physiologically and psychologically.  You cannot get ‘stuck’ in a hypnotic state.  What might rarely happen is that some people may enjoy the relaxed sate so much that they do not want to come back to full waking consciousness just yet.  They will do one of the following 2 things – 1) come out on their own in a very short time or 2) will fall into a natural sleep until they wake up naturally.
  • Weakness of the mind – ‘only weak minded/gullible people can be hypnotised’ – this is not true, in fact, People of above average intelligence who are capable of concentrating and those who have active, vivid imaginations make the best hypnotic subjects.

 

Can anyone be hypnotised?

 Yes, if they want to and allow themselves to be!